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| Cavaliere d'Arpino David with the Head of Goliath 1598 oil on canvas Koelliker Collection, Milan |
"Being the favourite painter of Pope Clement VIII, the Cavaliere d'Arpino was soon employed by the cardinal nephew Pietro Aldobrandini as well. The recently rediscovered David with the Head of Goliath is signed and dated 1598. It is first mentioned in the 1603 inventory of the cardinal's possessions at the Villa Aldobrandini on Monte Magnanapoli. . . . The David remained in the Aldobrandini collection for the next generations, and is well documented in the inventory of Ippolito Aldobrandini in 1638, and in those of Olimpia Aldobrandini Junior in 1663 and 1682. In 1787 it was still seen by Friedrich Wilhelm Basilius von Ramdohr in the Villa Aldobrandini a Magnanapoli, which during the Napoleonic occupation became the residence of the French Governor of Rome, General Sextus-Alexandre-François Miollis. Possibly during the French occupation, the David with the Head of Goliath entered the collection of Vincenzo Camuccini, only to resurface a few years ago on the art market."
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| Cavaliere d'Arpino Rest on the Flight into Egypt ca. 1596-97 oil on copper Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
"The Holy Family is resting on their flight into Egypt in a wide luminous landscape clearly inspired by the work of such northern specialists as Paul Bril who had been working in the papal city since the 1570s. The Virgin holds the child in her lap, while St Joseph hands his family a few dates that he has picked from the palm tree. According to the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew 20-21, at the request of the Christ child a nearby palm tree miraculously bent down to allow Joseph to pick the dates for the Virgin, while in our representation it is rather Joseph himself who has pulled the palm branch down."
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| Cristoforo Roncalli, called Il Pomarancio Death of Sapphira ca. 1599-1603 oil on canvas National Gallery of Canada |
"This large grisaille preparatory oil sketch, or bozzetto, is a study for Roncalli's most famous painting, the so-called altare della bugia, or Altar of the Lie, painted for the basilica of St. Peter's in the Vatican Palace. It is so called because in the Bible story (Acts 5:1-11) the protagonist Ananias sells a piece of land and falsely claims to Peter that he has handed over all the profits to the church for redistribution to the poor. Because he holds back some of the money and thereby lies to God, Ananias is rebuked by Peter and drops dead on the spot. A short while later his wife Sapphira tells the same lie and is likewise struck dead. In Roncalli's image Peter stands at centre left with keys and a heavenward gesture, Sapphira's body lies at lower right, and in the distance two men carry off the body of Ananias. The men in the left and right foreground are presumably Apostles, and most of the figures generic bystanders."
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| Giovanni Baglione St Peter Baptizing St Prisca ca. 1599-1600 drawing British Museum |
"For the Holy Year 1600 Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani (1556-1621) undertook an extensive renovation and re-decoration of his titular church of Santa Prisca on the Aventine, which included a frescoed cycle of Saints and Angels with the Instruments of the Passion by Anastasio Fontebuoni in the nave and a high altarpiece with Saint Peter Baptizing Saint Prisca by Domenico Passignano. As Gere first observed, in those years Giovanni Baglione was in close contact with both Benedetto and his brother Vincenzo Giustiniani, two of the most influential art patrons and collectors in Rome. His highly finished drawing in the British Museum was likely produced to compete for the new high altarpiece in Santa Prisca. . . . In Baglione's drawing, the baptism of St Prisca is situated in a vast church interior, characterized by two fluted Corinthian columns flanking the altar on the left and a high vaulted ceiling, which clearly alludes to the actual basilica on the Aventine. . . . A multitude of onlookers, strictly divided into women to the left and men to the right, assists with the baptism. The whole composition is characterized by solemn simplicity, inscribing the protagonists in a clear-cut triangle in the foreground."
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| Annibale Carracci Montalto Madonna ca. 1597-98 oil on copper National Gallery, London |
"Apart from his grand public commissions, Annibale Carracci continued to execute throughout his Roman sojourn smaller paintings for important private collectors. Especially valued were his exquisitely refined works on copper. [The Montalto Madonna] was highly esteemed throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as many painted copies as well as several engravings demonstrate. According to Bellori, the continuous copying almost ruined the picture when it was still in the Villa Montalto. Known for a long time only through these copies, the original resurfaced in 2003 and was acquired in 2004 for the National Gallery in London, adding yet another painting to their spectacular group of copper paintings by Annibale."
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| Annibale Carracci Vision of St Francis ca. 1597-98 oil on copper National Gallery of Canada |
"The Vision of Saint Francis in Ottawa can be identified with a small copper painting described by Bellori in the possession of Monsignor Lorenzo Salviati in Rome. . . . The painting belongs stylistically to the very same moment as the Montalto Madonna and the Coronation of Saint Stephen, and can be dated to around 1597-1598. . . . A double archway in the background, placed parallel to the picture plane, frames the central protagonists. Its Doric order recalls the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome. . . . Two preparatory drawings for this painting are known, one in Windsor Castle, and a slightly later one [directly below] in the National Gallery in Ottawa. The rapid compositional sketch in Ottawa, in pen and brown ink with broad wash, traces only the central group. In the painting, Annibale has intensified the emotional expression and further clarified the compositional and narrative structure."
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| Annibale Carracci Vision of St Francis ca. 1597 drawing National Gallery of Canada |
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| Annibale Carracci Hercules Resting ca. 1596-97 drawing Cleveland Museum of Art |
"In a letter dated 12 February 1595 Cardinal Odoardo Farnese informed his brother, Ranuccio Farnese Duke of Parma and Piacenza, of his decision to commission the Carracci to decorate the grand hall of their Roman family palace with the heroic deeds of their recently deceased father, Duke Alessandro Farnese. . . . The decoration of the Camerino Farnese, a relatively small room on the piano nobile which probably served as the cardinal's study, has been traditionally dated to the beginning of Annibale's Roman sojourn about 1595-1597. . . . The complex planning process is documented by a large number of preparatory drawings, including sketches for the decorative scheme, compositional studies for the narrative scenes, and nude studies for the main figures. The black chalk drawing in Cleveland is a relatively recent addition to this group, and is preparatory for Annibale's fresco of Hercules Resting. Annibale's composition is closely based on a famous ancient gem, at the time in the collection of Fulvio Orsini, the learned humanist and antiquarian in the service of the Farnese. The Cleveland drawing shows the pensive and exhausted Hercules resting in a barely indicated landscape setting after the accomplishment of his twelve labours. . . . The vigorous study of the male nude is clearly based on a profound knowledge of the human body while trying, at the same time, to assimilate the artificial pose of ancient models such as the two river gods at the time in the Farnese collection."
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| Carlo Saraceni Mars and Venus ca. 1600 oil on copper Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
"Around 1598 Saraceni moved from his native Venice to Rome, where he spent the rest of his career. . . . During the first decade of his Roman sojourn he specialized in paintings of small format and was attracted by the work of northern masters such as Adam Elsheimer [directly below]. The classical tone and refined execution of his small copper plates suggest the influence of Annibale Carracci, Francesco Albani, Domenichino, and the Cavaliere d'Arpino. The Mars and Venus in Madrid belongs to a group of early mythological paintings, like the Andromeda in Dijon or the Bath of Mars and Venus in Minneapolis, and can be dated to around 1600. It first appeared on the art market in 1979 and was acquired for the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection in 1982."
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| Adam Elsheimer The Flight into Egypt ca. 1604 oil on copper Kimbell Art Museum, Forth Worth, Texas |
"Adam Elsheimer came to Rome around 1600 after periods in his native Frankfurt, southern Germany, and Venice. As a German-trained artist, he was surrounded by great examples of miniaturist painting – including works by Albrecht Dürer – and it is not surprising that he chose to centre his production on small paintings on copper. The Jubilee of 1600 was likely an important factor in Elsheimer's decision to move south after his short – perhaps year-long – sojourn in Venice. He was already installed in Rome by April of that year, joining the large community of international artists who had been gathering in the Eternal City for decades. . . . He appears to have been exceptionally open to sharing his works with his fellow artists, and we can be certain that the present painting was seen and admired. Three early copies of it are known (one with a variation on the landscape), and strong echoes are present in paintings by Pieter Lastman and Ludovico Cardi, 'il Cigoli'."
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| Federico Zuccaro Allegory of Medicine ca, 1596-97 drawing Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario |
"In 1590 Federico Zuccaro acquired property on the Pincio, the Roman hill dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti. His purpose was to build a grand house for his family, a studio for himself, and a meeting place for his pupils. Construction began the following year, and fresco decorations of the major rooms continued thereafter. In his will of 1603 Federico bequeathed the Palazzo Zuccaro to the Accademia di San Luca, the artists' association that he had reorganized and of which he became president in 1593. Today the Palazzo Zuccaro houses the Bibliotheca Herziana, the great art library. The drawing in Kingston, done in Federico's late, scratchy style, is for part of the frescoed ceiling in a ground-floor room called the Sala del Disegno. . . . It is dominated by the figure of Aesculapius – the Greek and Roman god of healing and son of Apollo – shown seated and semi-nude, with a large book propped open at his left hip and the caduceus clasped in his right hand. . . . To the left of the statue, a student studies diligently at a desk laden with books and anatomical models. To the right, two men are dissecting a corpse."
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| attributed to Federico Zuccaro Bust-length Portrait of Torquato Tasso ca. 1594 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Giovanni Alberti Study of male nude ca. 1596-1600 drawing National Gallery of Canada |
"Formerly attributed to Pellegrino Tibaldi, this is, as first put forward by Hermann Fiore, a study for the nude Atlas figure supporting the arms of the Aldobrandini pope Clement VIII depicted in the decoration in the northeast corner of the Sala Clementina in the Vatican Palace. It is located close to the allegorical figure of Religion dominating this part of the vast room glorifying this pope and his family name. Given the influence the Bolognese artist Tibaldi had on both Giovanni and Cherubino Alberti, the earlier attribution is certainly comprehensible. The major influence in this instance, however, is that of Michelangelo. Indeed, this monumental, powerfully foreshortened nude owes much to both the ignudi on the ceiling and to the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. It is important to remember too that the Carracci were active frescoing comparable nudes in the Gallery in the Palazzo Farnese at the very same date, but in a style more rooted in life drawing. Giovanni's ability to paint complex illusionistic ceilings, as in the Sala Clementina, was, nonetheless, a major influence on Baroque artists with comparable interests."
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| Cherubino Alberti Study of male nude, and leg studies ca. 1596-1600 drawing National Gallery of Canada |
"As Hermann Fiore first pointed out, this drawing is a study for a framing figure near the allegory of Benignancy in the southwest corner of the Sala Clementina in the Vatican Palace. The patron of this ambitious decorative project, contracted in 1596 and completed by 1600, was the Aldobrandini pope – Clement VIII, who preferred to support Tuscan artists such as those of the Alberti family, as opposed to the likes of Caravaggio or Annibale Carracci. Two stories high, this monumental room glorified, in a particularly ostentatious manner, both the Aldobrandini family and his choice of papal name. The illusion is of a room opened to the sky in which Saint Clement kneels before the Trinity. This was one of several highly visible projects initiated by Pope Clement VIII intended to demonstrate the power and glory of the Catholic Church with the approach of the Jubilee year of 1600."
– quoted passages from a 2009 exhibition catalogue issued by the National Gallery of Canada – From Raphael to Carracci: The Art of Papal Rome, edited by David Franklin